Cellphone cases imported by OtterBox are classifiable as articles of plastic under chapter 39 of the HTS, and not under an expansive heading in chapter 42 covering various types of containers, said the Court of International Trade in a May 26 decision released on June 2 (here). Overturning the classification and duty rate assessed by CBP at liquidation, the court also ruled that CBP owes OtterBox refunds on post-importation payments of duties on assists provided in connection with the cellphone cases.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of May 25-31:
TACOMA, Wash. -- CBP will put on hold some customs broker modernization efforts in order to consider a more expansive revision to the regulations, said CBP Assistant Commissioner Brenda Smith while meeting with reporters during the agency's West Coast Trade Symposium on May 27. While CBP recently announced progress in the required regulatory process, the agency will instead take another look at available options, she said. Smith said she could not discuss the specific problems within the package that resulted in the pause.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of May 18-24:
Some five months out from the Nov. 1 deadline for cargo release in the Automated Commercial Environment, filers and software developers are shifting into overdrive to implement Partner Government Agency (PGA) message set requirements, said customs brokers and programmers in interviews. Given the large volume of imports regulated by the Food and Drug Administration, that agency’s release of its final Supplemental Guide on May 12 marks an important step, followed closely by the draft release of CBP’s ACE Business Rules implementation guide three days later.
The FCC is being pressed by both sides to resolve an intercarrier compensation fight between LECs and interexchange carriers (IXCs) over “intraMTA” (major trading area) wireline-wireless traffic. A court reviewing related IXC claims also could ask the agency to weigh in, LEC representatives told us. AT&T, which has interests on both sides, said “hundreds of millions” of industry dollars are at stake and has urged the FCC to act in a targeted way to avoid destabilizing intercarrier arrangements, either by disrupting past LEC access-charge revenue or creating unintended IXC access payment obligations for complicated traffic routing.
The Supreme Court on May 26 denied a petition to hear an appeal of Trek Leather, setting in stone a controversial court ruling that some importers fear will expand the liability of corporate officers and employees for customs violations. Tucked without comment in a lengthy order sheet also denying a hearing to scores of other cases (here), the denial of certiorari lets stand a September decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit that found Harish Shadadpuri liable for penalties for his corporation’s failure to declare assists on entry documentation, even though the corporation acted as importer of record (see 14091703).
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of May 11-17:
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for May 11-15 in case they were missed.
The requirement that importers pay duties before bringing tariff classification cases to court is an unconstitutional hurdle that allows CBP to disregard rulings “with impunity” if the duties imposed are too much for the affected importer to bear, said Gregory Teufel, attorney for International Custom Products (ICP), in oral argument before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on May 8. The pay to play scheme is an unconstitutional bar to importers’ right to due process because it allows CBP to deprive them of a “property interest” in the form of a binding ruling without any notice or the opportunity to be heard, said Teufel.